Double Trouble
by kellemarine
Summary: Everyone knows what happened when Sirius fell through the veil. What is something different happened to Harry? Harry ends up in Halloween town where he meets Jack Skellington. Things change forever for Harry and Jack and nothing will ever be the same.
1. Prologue

Set 7 ½ years after the Christmas fiasco, 6 ½ years after Oogie's Revenge and immediately after the ministry battle. Everyone knows what happened to Sirius when he fell through the veil but what is something different happened to Harry? After Sirius falls through, Harry chases after him and is forced through by a death eater. Rather than dying, Harry ends up in Halloween town's graveyard. Harry passes out from shock and is discovered by none other than Jack Skellington. What happens afterward sets off Harry's greatest adventure and things in Halloween town will change forever.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. Wish I did though. Thanks a million, J.K. and Tim Burton.

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**Double Trouble**

**Prologue**

'_Twas a long time ago_

_Yet maybe not as long as it seems_

_In two places that perhaps you've seen in your wildest dreams_

_For the story you are about to be told_

_Took place in the Pumpkin King's realm of Halloween_

_And in the wizarding world through the eyes of a teen._

_Hhm, what's that you say?_

_You've never head of the wizarding world before?_

_Not until this very day?_

_Ah, now I see why. You're a muggle_

_So that would explain why you look so puzzled. _

_Well – oh, I'm sorry. Muggle is the term_

_For non-magic folk, dear. _

_Now, no more interruptions_

_And as I tell you this story, do not make any assumptions._

_For in this tale, things are not as they first appear._

_Sit down and I'll tell you the story_

_A story of an adventure ever so great_

_When the worlds of Harry Potter and Jack Skellington_

_Met by mistake._

xxxxx

**Author's note: ***Reposted


	2. Through the Veil

**Double Trouble**

**Through the Veil**

No! It wasn't true! It couldn't be true! Sirius was fine! Sure, he had fallen through the veil but that didn't mean anything bad had become of him. His godfather would reappear any second now, smiling and ready to rejoin the battle. But as the seconds painfully ticked by, Sirius had yet to return. Harry struggled violently to free himself from Lupin, who was holding him back.

"Harry, he's gone. I'm sorry but there's nothing you can do. Bellatrix hit him with the killing curse. He's de-"

"NO! No, he's not dead! How can you say that?! He's fine! He has to be okay! You'll see! Sirius! SIRIUS!"

"Harry, listen to me! Sirius- GET DOWN!" Lupin flung himself to the floor, dragging Harry along with him as the number of curses soared over their heads.

Lupin's hold on Harry had slackened from the force of the fall. Seizing the opportunity, Harry leapt to his feet and tore towards the veil as fast as his legs could carry him, ignoring Lupin's screams of protest for him to come back. Skidding to a halt, he frantically searched for any signs of his godfather. A loud crack of apparation sounded from behind him, which was immediately followed by a high, cold laugh. The same laugh that belonged to Sirius's killer, the same laugh that belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange.

Before he could react, a pair of hands roughly forced him forward. Harry flung his arms out in an attempt to grab onto something, anything that would stop him from toppling over into the veil, but his hands were met with nothing but air. A split second later, he was being drawn through what felt like an airless tunnel with heavy pressure pounding in from all sides. His ears were ringing. His head was pounding. His lungs were going to burst. And as soon as it had begun, it was over.

Solid ground came up to meet him and he landed with a loud smack. As Harry began to lose consciousness, the sound of rusty, iron gates being pushed open came from somewhere up ahead of him. His rapidly drooping eyes searched for the source and found it. What appeared to be a tall skeleton wearing a suit walked through the gates, taking no notice of the teenager sprawled out at the foot of a tombstone.

The last thought that ran through Harry's mind was, _What the hell have I gotten myself into this time_? Then the oh-so familiar black oblivion swept over him. And at that exact moment, the skeleton froze mid-step, his eyes, or eye sockets, open wide as he finally saw the unconscious teenager face down in the dirt.

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**Author's Note: **Yay! Cliff hanger! Ha ha! No I'm kidding. I hate cliff hangers as much as the next person, but this seemed like a good place to cut it off when I was writing it.

*Reposted


	3. Jack

All right everybody. Here's the second chapter! It's short, I know. It was a lot longer than this on paper (I must have huge handwriting).

xxxxx

**Double Trouble**

**Jack**

Jack stood frozen in place. This certainly was not what he had expected to find here. Really, he hadn't expected to find anything out of the ordinary here, just the usual tombstones and pumpkins. Originally he had come here to think and be alone for a short period of time with the exception of his ghost dog, Zero, who now came floating up behind him. Well, now his plans definitely went out the window. Zero began whining at the sight of the motionless newcomer.

"Hush Zero," Jack said as we walked over to the newcomer and knelt down beside him.

Jack paused for a brief moment then gently rolled the person onto their back and another surprise greeted Jack. This person appeared to be in their mid-teens and appeared human, far from dead like the rest of the residents of Halloween Town. Jack was certain of this fact. There really was only one way to confirm his suspicions. He took the kid's wrist in hand, feeling for a pulse and nearly dropped his arm in surprise when he found what he had been searching for.

Great pumpkins! The kid was indeed alive! Jack let out a long sigh, uncertain of what he should do next. Humans were not allowed in Halloween Town for…obvious reasons, but he just couldn't leave the kid here. He supposed he could take the boy to his home and patiently wait for him to wake up. This boy, whoever he was, may not panic as much if he regained consciousness inside of a house instead of in a graveyard. Yet Jack was unsure if he would be able to answer the foreseeable question of how the boy came to the graveyard in the first place. Someone who had been in the town a long time might be able to provide a more adequate explanation. But who?

Jack snapped his bony fingers together as his mind landed on that very person. Doctor Finklestein! The doctor had been in Halloween Town for hundreds of years, longer than Jack, and would be able to provide better answers than anyone else. Plus he could provide any medical care the kid might need. The boy was still unconscious which lead Jack to believe he had hit his head fairly hard. Jack looked at him and, sure enough, a large bruise was beginning to appear on the boy's forehead right beside a lightning bolt shaped scar. _How strange_, Jack thought to himself. _I've never seen a scar shaped like this before. It looks like…but no, this can't be him._

As Jack began to pick the teenager up, a small blue orb fell out of one of the boy's jean pockets. Curiosity flowed through Jack as he pocketed the blue orb. He had never seen anything like this orb before. It was reminiscent of a small pool table ball except this orb was faintly glowing. Not wanting to lose any more of the boy's belongings, he quickly checked the remaining pockets and found a long, thin stick of wood with a bark handle. _What's this? Why would this boy be carrying a stick in his pocket? Unless…it could be a wand._ _The witches use wands. I'll have to ask him once he's awake._

Luck was on Jack's side. It was the middle night so hardly anyone would be in the town square which happened to be a good thing since he didn't want any prying questions at the moment. He exited the graveyard with the boy in his arms, questions buzzing around in his skull. Who was this person and how did he get here? Where did he come from? What was the blue orb for and was the stick indeed a wand? And what did this mean for the town? In all his many years of being in Halloween Town, nothing like this had happened before. New arrivals who died on Halloween night was a rare occurrence but never before had a human arrived. _Well, I'll find all this out soon enough won't I?,_ he thought as he arrived at the doctor's house and rang the doorbell.

xxxxx

**Author's note:** What do you think so far? Like it? Hate it? Let me know what you think.

*Reposted


	4. Introductions and Visions

**Double Trouble**

**Introductions and Visions**

Harry was slowly coming around. Vaguely, he remembered the ministry battle, Sirius, falling through the veil and somehow ending up in a graveyard. Oh yes, and then there was that skeleton.

_Great,_ Harry thought. _That's all need. This is like the triwizard tournament all over again._ He moved his hands slightly and felt the surface of a cot beneath him. A cot? Wait, hadn't he been in that graveyard before blacking out? Where was he now? Hushed voices broke through his musings.

"When will he wake up?" a man spoke anxiously.

"Be patient, Jack. The lad will wake up when his body is ready. No rushing these things."

What? Jack? Who was Jack? What was going on? It would be the icing on the cake if these people turned out to be death eaters. Nausea was beginning to creep up on him, making his stomach squirm unpleasantly. He let out a barely audible groan. Apparently, the two men in the room had heard since they stopped talking.

"He's waking up. Jack, see if Sally has that salve ready yet."

The door shut, followed by a few moments of silence. A whirring sound, similar to that of a small motor, came closer until it stopped beside the table Harry was laying on.

"Young man…can you hear me?" a voice spoke softly.

Harry opened his eyes and possibly one of the most bizarre sights he had ever seen, other than the Snape boggart, met his eyes. This man was a doctor of some kind and he sat in a very ancient looking wheel chair. He had goggles on and a mouth that looked almost like a duck bill. But that wasn't the strangest part. A line ran across his head and what looked like bolts ran across the line. Harry could do nothing except blink at him.

The man simply smiled and said, "I know I must appear odd to you but there's no need to be afraid."

"Who…who are you? Where am I?" Harry rasped.

"My name is Doctor Finklestein and…how do I put this…let's just say you're in a very unique kind of town," the doctor said. "You were found in the town graveyard by my friend, Jack. He's the one who found you and brought you here. That fall you had must have been pretty nasty for you to get a bruise like that." Finklestein paused before continuing. "May I ask what your name is?"

Harry was on the verge of replying when the door opened and in walked the very same skeleton Harry had seen in the graveyard. He began to back up instinctively while he looked around wildly for his wand.

"Whoa! Hold on! It's all right! There's no need to panic! This is-"

Harry cut him off. "No need to panic?! Have you lost your mind?! There's a walking skeleton in the room and you're telling me not to panic?!"

"Yes, he is a skeleton but that doesn't mean he's going to hurt you! This is Jack Skellington, the one who found you in the graveyard."

Harry looked back at Jack again. Jack was tall, a little over Hagrid's height. He wore a black suit with white pinstripes and a bat shaped bow tie. Now that Harry had a second look at him he didn't seem all that frightening. But there was something about his name that Harry just couldn't shake. For some peculiar reason, he could swear he had heard it from somewhere before.

"My sincere apologies if I frightened you. I had no intentions of doing so."

"Th-that's all right. I probably shouldn't have panicked so much anyway. It's kind of a force of habit. This is going to sound strange but your name sounds…familiar. I know I've heard it from somewhere before. Where am I exactly?" Harry asked for a second time.

Jack and Dr. Finklestein silently exchanged glances before Jack spoke. "What do you think? Should we tell him?"

"Hhm, you might as well, Jack. The boy is already here. He would have to know sooner or later," the doctor said.

Jack nodded and turned to Harry. "I suppose I'll get straight to the point. You're in Halloween Town." Harry must have looked utterly lost because Jack began to explain. "You see, each holiday has its own special world and everything in each town is dedicated to that specific holiday. For example, you're here in Halloween Town. Here we work to make each year's Halloween more frightening, more terrifying than the previous year. And that's all we do. Any monster or scary Halloween figure you may have heard of is here: vampires, werewolves, demons, mummies, the Grim Reaper. The list goes on. When someone dies on a holiday, there is an extremely small chance that they will go to the holiday world that they died on. On some occasions they will be sent to a different holiday world or they may not be sent anywhere at all. No one is certain why that is. Does this make sense?"

"It does…but that still doesn't explain why I know your name from somewhere."

"Have you ever heard of the Pumpkin King before?"

Upon hearing this, Harry did remember one Halloween night back when he had been eight years old. His uncle Vernon had forced him to do chores in the kitchen for most of the evening while Dudley and his gang of friends enjoyed their candy feast in the backyard. They had been telling scary stories the entire time. Some of them had involved said Pumpkin King. Piers kept insisting that he had seen him the previous Halloween. Up until this moment, Harry had always assumed Piers had been lying. It seemed plausible at the time given the fact that was what Piers always did. But now the description Piers had given that night fit Jack perfectly: a tall skeleton in a black and white suit. Harry's eyes comically grew wide at the realization.

"You're the Pumpkin King?" Harry almost shouted.

"Exactly!" Jack proclaimed happily, clapping his hand together.

Harry couldn't believe it. And if the Pumpkin King was real… "So…so are all the other major holiday figures real?"

Jack nodded. "Right you are! I even had the honor of meeting Sandy Claws."

"More like stole his job, Jack," Finklestein chuckled.

"You stole his job?" Harry mused out loud, his eyebrows raised.

"I wouldn't say I stole his job. It was more like giving him a break so he could have a vacation. You have to admit that even Sandy Claws needs a break now and then. The whole town pitched in making Christmas. My love, Sally, made my Sandy Claws outfit for me. We all made presents, a runway for the sleigh, decorations for the town. We even made real reindeer or, rather, Dr. Finklestein made them. I didn't see any real harm in the whole operation. But it turns out, I scared more children than I made happy. All the toys and presents came to life. They either haunted people or attacked them. I heard a few reports of what the toys did. A jack-in-the-box chased a boy around his house and I believe a plush snake toy ate one child's Christmas tree."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. The very image of children being chased around by possessed Christmas toys seemed pretty outrageous. Well maybe it would not have been as funny if Jack had reached the Dursley's house. Then again, Harry would have given anything, almost anything to see Dudley running…no…waddling away from a killer toy.

"You never did tell us your name, lad," Finklestein said.

Harry unconsciously flattened his bangs as he said, "My name is Harry…Harry Potter."

The room fell dead silent, enough so that someone could hear a needle hit the floor. Jack and Finklestein stared at him as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. Harry wasn't accustomed to this sort of reaction. Normally when he told people his name they tended to slightly freak out. The pair before him just stared at with their eyes wide.

"Um, I take it you both know who I am then," Harry said. "How?"

"I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but we have witches in our town. Two as a matter of fact. They died shortly after…after Voldemort first rose to power," Jack explained. "When they went to the normal world on Halloween, they heard of what happened that same night Voldemort fell. They know what happened."

"You're not afraid to say Voldemort's name?" Harry asked, still trying to take in all this news.

Jack shook his head. "Why should I be? It's just a name after all. Although, the witches still refuse to say it even after all these years. The reason for it is beyond me. Oh, I can't believe I left this out! There are actually three witches in town! The third is- Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry groaned and tried to shake the nausea away. His head was pounding. It felt like someone was playing the drums inside his head while the room spun before him. Now he was feeling a fierce rage that did not belong to him. Jack, Dr. Finklestein and the room were beginning to fade from his vision. His scar erupted with pain without warning as darkness filled his vision and Harry knew what was happening. A new sight formed out of the darkness. He was standing in a dimly light room with a roaring fireplace casting an eerie glow behind him. A semi-circle of people in robes and masks were facing him. In front of him was a man, alone and kneeling on the floor.

"_What did you say to me?" a high, cruel voice said. The man was beginning to shake uncontrollably, unable to meet his gaze. "Say it again. Out loud. Say it!"_

"_My…my lord…Potter, he…he fell through the v-veil. I pushed him through. Forgive me, my lord. I didn't k-know he…had it."_

"_What? What did he have?! Tell me!"_

"_I did-didn't know. If I had…I never w-would have done…it."_

"_What did Potter have?! What did you do?!" the dark lord screeched. "TELL ME!"_

_The man was sobbing hysterically by now. "He…he had the pr-prophecy-"_

_A scream of rage, of denial escaped. He slashed his beloved yew wand through air, emerald light erupting from its tip. The kneeling man toppled over and was dead before he hit the floor. The watching crowd scattered in every direction, making for the two exits. Bellatrix threw people behind her towards the enraged dark lord in her mad dash for the door. Those who weren't quick enough to escape the killing curse were slain. All of them, for bringing him this news._

_The mission was a complete failure. Potter and the prophecy had been within his grasp! He knew the outcome of falling through the veil could result in one of two things: death or being teleported to a different location. And he knew the latter had happened. There was a connection between them and if Potter had died as a result of falling through the veil, he should have felt it. Sadly, nothing of the sort had happened which mean the brat could be anywhere by now. His real problem was locating the boy before Dumbledore and his meddling Order did. Luck was on his side for more people had joined his ranks, including a small group called the Valkor. They would be sent out along with hi_s_ death eaters to track down Potter. That menace had to be found! And then he, Lord Voldemort, would finally have victory over his curse and the wizarding would become his!_

Harry was abruptly thrown from Voldemort's mind. Horrible nausea and a wave of dizziness overcame him. He raised his head up to speak but doubled over as the contents of his stomach emptied onto the floor. The last thing he saw as he collapsed was Jack's concerned face.

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**Author's note:** *Reposted.

First set of _Italics_- Harry's thoughts

Second set of _Italics_- Harry seeing through Voldemort's mind


	5. Town Meeting Discovery

**Double Trouble**

**Town Meeting Discovery**

The atmosphere at Grimmauld Place was horrible. Downright horrible. Almost four days had passed, and so far no one had an inkling of what had happened to Harry or Sirius or where they were. Upstairs a group of teenagers sat in a bedroom. Hermione and Ginny sat by the window with Crookshanks in Hermione's lap. The twins, Fred and George, were perched on the edge of the bed, watching their brother, Ron, pace angrily back and forth about the room.

"What's taking them so long?" Ron spat. "It's been four days now! Why haven't they started to look for Harry and Sirius?!"

"Ron," Ginny cut in, "there's probably an inquiry about the battle going on. Mum said that Dumbledore has been away at the ministry most of the time. It's most likely because of the inquiry. Don't you think that might be the reason?"

"That's no excuse!" Ron roared, making Crookshanks race for the safety of underneath the bed. "Missing people should come first! Or do they all think they're both dead?"

"Don't!" Hermione sobbed as she burst into tears. Ron stopped pacing and ran to her side.

"Come on, Hermione. You know I didn't mean it like that. I want them back just as much as you do. I'm sure Harry and Sirius are okay. Sirius survived twelve years of Azkaban. Hell, Harry's lived through more near death experiences than I care to count. They'll be all right."

"Ron's right, Hermione," George said as Fred nodded in agreement. "It's going to take more than a misty old curtain to stop those two. And anyway, I think the Order meeting started. Would anyone-"

"Like to hear something-" Fred chimed in.

"A little more interesting," George finished.

"Great idea," Ginny said. "That's better than sitting around in this room. Maybe we'll get some answers." The five of them left the room leaving Crookshanks locked inside, that way he couldn't eat the Extendable Ear again.

"All right, let's hope this works," George whispered as the ear was lowered by the kitchen door. "And here we go." Voices floated up to them through the ear.

"_We don't have any evidence supporting that, Molly."_ Kingsely's voice came over the speaker. _"Yes, people have fallen through the veil and died. But don't forget. People have been found, alive and well, hundreds of miles away."_

"_But we don't even know where to start looking? I'm not trying to be cold about this, but do you know how many miles of land there are?"_

"_No, Bill, but I bet you're going to tell us,"_ Tonks said.

"_Billions and billions of miles. We'll be looking for Harry and Sirius for years and that's if we ever find them."_

Silence fell for a minute or two before Dumbledore spoke. _"Severus, have you heard any news?"_

"_There actually is, Headmaster,"_ Snape said. Hermione could picture everyone turning their heads in one single motion to look at Snape.

"_You mean that you had information this whole time and you're choosing now to tell us? Why the hell didn't you say anything before?"_

"_Molly, please,"_ Dumbledore spoke softly. "_Please continue, Severus."_

Snape clearly paused before continuing. _"As you all know, Bellatrix pushed Potter through the veil. It's come to my attention that she forced a low-ranking death eater to tell the dark lord he was the one who pushed Potter."_

"_Why would she do that? What does she stand to gain from that? And why did she push Potter in the first place?"_

"_I'm not quite sure, Minerva," _Snape continued. _"But I am certain of this. The dark lord has gathered new recruits, some of which belong to a small group called the Valkor. They have been sent out in groups to find Potter."_

"_Then we must do the same. Voldemort mustn't find Harry and Cornelius needs to know about this. He can't deny that Tom has indeed returned. Is everyone willing to take a trip to the ministry?" _Dumbledore asked. Murmurs of agreement were heard, and then Dumbledore said, _Shall we?"_ The sound of many chairs scraping the floor came up to them.

"They're coming out! Quick, back to the room!" Fred whispered. All five of them tore down the hall, barely shutting the door in time as Order members began filing out of the kitchen. The sound of someone stepping on creaking boards echoed through the hallway until footsteps stopped outside the room and someone knocked on the door. Mrs. Weasley poked her head through the door.

"I figured you kids were still in here. I just wanted to tell you that the Order meeting is over and we're going to the ministry for a bit."

"Why, Mrs. Weasley? Is everything all right?" Hermione asked innocently.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Things are fine, dear. There's just something Professor Dumbledore wants to make the minister aware of and he wants some of us to be there for it. We shouldn't be away for too long. If you kids get hungry, there's leftover roast in the kitchen.

"Thanks, mum," Ron said as Mrs. Weasley retreated through the door and headed back down the stairs. They all stayed quiet until the chatter died away as the front door closed. Hermione gasped as an idea came to her. "I have an idea! I think I know a way to find Harry and Sirius! Ron, where's Hedwig?"

"She's at the end of the hall with Pig. Why?"

"Don't you remember? Harry would use Hedwig when Sirius was on the run. Every time he got a letter from Sirius, he was never in the same place twice. Hedwig found him every single time," Hermione quickly explained. "I can't help wondering if Hedwig could do it again, only this time she could find Harry."

"Do you really think that could work?"

"It's certainly worth a try, Ginny," Hermione answered her. "If we could find out where Harry is by owl, there would be no need for a search party."

"All right, but where are we going to get a second owl from so we can mail Sirius as well? Errwol can't fly without crashing into things. Pig has the brains of ant and I seriously doubt Percy will lend us Hermes. He's still being a git," George said.

"How about Stryker?" Ron offered. "We can use him." Stryker was one of six owls that were used by the Order. He was an extremely reliable barn owl who always found his target. Fred and George ran out of the room, returning a minute later with Hedwig and Stryker. Hermione quickly wrote two separate letters and tied them to the owls' legs.

"You're brilliant, Hermione. You know that right?" Ron said as the owls flew through the open window. Hermione smiled sheepishly at Ron. One thought ran through her mind as Stryker and Hedwig faded from view.

_Please, let this work._

xxxxx

_He was running, faster than he had ever run in his life. Something was chasing him and, whatever it was, it was gaining fast, crashing through the trees and snarling viciously. He rounded a hill and stepped straight over the edge of a ravine. Dirt and pebbles showered down around him. Desperately, he leapt and grabbed at the side of the ravine. He latched onto a tree root that was sticking out of the dirt wall and began to climb. Halfway up, the root snapped, the ground crumbled and gave out sending him back to the earth. The sound of paws hitting the ground came from behind him and he whipped around just in time to see something large and furry lunge at him, aiming for his throat. It was all over. He was going to die…_

Harry jerked awake. His heart was thudding wildly and he rolled off the edge of the bed, dragging the blankets that were wrapped around his legs with him. He groaned and rubbed his back. He _would_ roll out of bed during a nightmare. Harry glanced at the bed he had been lying in. It was made for someone much taller than him and appeared to be the kind that rolled back into the wall. A quick glance around the room told him he was not at Dr. Finklestein's place any longer. The room looked like it had been pulled straight out of a Halloween store. The floor was made of black and white marble, the majority of the windows covered in deep red curtains. Half the room was lined with floor to ceiling bookcases. A spiral staircase leading downstairs was in the middle of the room. And that…no. Was that an electric chair? It certainly looked like one. Not really wanting to know whether it was real or not, Harry picked himself off the floor, almost tripping on a bowl that read "Zero." He looked around for his wand, found it on a desk along with the prophecy and stowed both items in his pants pocket before making his way down the stairs.

The staircase was considerably long with periodic windows in the walls, looking out over the town. He came to bottom, which joined a second staircase and went down where he found Jack sleeping on a sofa. It looked a bit strange to see a skeleton sleeping, let alone snoring. Harry was wondering whether or not he should wake him when Jack gave a loud yawn and sat up. A few seconds passed before Jack noticed Harry standing in the doorway.

"You're awake," Jack exclaimed. "I was beginning to worry. You were out for a rather long time."

"I was? For how long?"

"Around four days. You were unconscious for the rest of the first day and slept for the other three. I checked on you every couple of hours. You woke up a few times. I was able to get you to eat a small amount of food but you never stayed awake long enough to eat a proper meal. I would imagine you must be hungry?"

Harry's stomach growled audibly. "Um…you could say that."

Jack grinned and motioned for Harry to follow him. "This way." Jack led Harry into the kitchen which was styled similar to that of Grimmauld Place except this was much more festive and charming. A bowl of steaming soup sat on the table.

"I had a feeling you would want something to eat once you woke up so I warmed some soup up for you. It's in a special bowl that keeps food warm for five hours. The witches invented it," Jack said, carrying a plate of bread over to the table and set it in front of Harry. He sat down across from Harry, who stared at the lime green color soup.

"The soup is called wormswart. Don't worry! It's not made from worms," Jack added quickly since Harry's eyes had grown wide at the word 'wormswart.' "That's just the name of the dish. Do you like it?" Jack asked as Harry tentatively tried a spoonful.

The soup was surprisingly delicious, rather like the onion soup Mrs. Weasley made. "Yeah, it's great." They sat in silence for a while as Harry feasted on the soup. He was just about to start on the bread when Jack spoke.

"May I ask something?" Harry nodded so Jack continued. "How did you get here and what happened before you lost consciousness?"

Harry paused with a chunk of break halfway to his mouth. "It's…kind of a long story."

"Is this something the town should be made aware of?"

Again, Harry paused. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Voldemort messing with his mind, luring him to the ministry. Harry knew Voldemort was searching for him and if he found him here, then the town would have to know what they might be up against.

"I think so," Harry answered. "Before I passed out, I saw through Voldemort's eyes. I don't know why it happened but it just did. He knows I'm missing and he's going to start searching for me. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already started. That's why your town needs to know."

"Then I'll call a town meeting. Everyone knows a newcomer is here. They just don't know who you are. And when they find out…well I can only imagine what their reaction will be." Jack stood, strode over to the doorway and turned back to Harry. "I'll be back in around fifteen minutes or so. Feel free to help yourself to some more bread while I'm gone." Then he left.

Harry leaned back in his chair, wondering what Jack's Halloween Town would say once they discovered the famous boy-who-lived was in town. And if Jack was a skeleton and Finklestein was…whatever he was, then what did the rest of the townspeople look like?

xxxxx

Forty-five minutes later, Harry found himself pacing in a back room of the town hall. Jack had snuck Harry in through the back entrance to avoid the crowded hall. His explanation had been he didn't want anyone seeing him just yet.

Jack's voice came from the other side of the door. "_Listen everyone."_ The chatter died down immediately. _"I want to introduce you all to the person who arrived four days ago. I'll let him explain how he came here."_ The door creaked open and Jack stuck his head through the door. "Come on out," he whispered.

Harry stepped through the door and barely had time to take in the diverse crowd before him when they all started shouting at once.

"Jack! That's a human!"

"What's he doing here?!"

"How could you do this?!"

"Do you realize what you've done?!"

"Everyone please, now not so fast," Jack yelled over the commotion. "This is no ordinary human."

"Does it matter?" a short man with a sad looking blue face said. "He's a human, Jack. He's not allowed here."

"Mayor, please! You don't understand."

"No, Jack! You don't understand. Listen, this human-"

"WAIT!" a woman cried. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and past the mayor. Although the room was full of monsters, this woman wasn't scary like the rest. Her skin was pale, her hair was red and she looked hauntingly familiar, so much so that it unnerved Harry.

"Dog gone it, woman. I'm trying to talk some sense into Jack."

"Mayor, hold on. Please." She turned to Harry and reached out as if to touch him, but stopped half way. "Harry…sweetheart…is that you?"

Harry felt his heart skip a few beats. This woman looked exactly like the woman he had seen in the Mirror of Erised. The same red hair, the same green almond shaped eyes. His eyes. No, it couldn't be possible. Yet the proof was standing mere feet away from him.

"Mum?"

xxxxx

**Author's note: ***Reposted


	6. The Prophecy

**Double Trouble**

**The Prophecy**

"_Mum?"_

Harry stood there completely dumbfounded. He couldn't believe his eyes. All these years he had believed his mother to be dead. And now, here she was standing right before him.

The bi-polar mayor was the first to break the hushed silence. "Lily, is this…"

"Yes, mayor. This is my son, Harry."

A chorus of whispering broke out. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were whispering to each other while some stole glances at Harry. In the far back of the room behind a man with an ax in his head, three small figures ducked down behind a bench. All of them had masks on. Lily swept her long lost son into a fierce hug that momentarily took his breath away.

"I can't believe you're here Wait, how did you get here?" she choked, pulling out of the hug.

"I've been wondering the exact same thing, Lily, which is one of the reasons why I called a town meeting." Jack turned to Harry before adding, "Earlier today, you mentioned this had something to do with Lord Voldemort."

The crowd broke out in whispering again as Harry nodded in response. "It does, but it's a long story."

"We have the time for it, sweetheart," Lily said as she conjured up a chair for her son. "Start at the beginning and don't leave anything out."

Harry heaved a sigh as he sank into the chair and began the story. For the next two hours, he told his mum, Jack and the town everything: Hogwarts, the sorcerer's stone, the chamber of secrets, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius, the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort's return, Umbridge and the events from the past year leading up to where he was now. He stopped at ending up in the local graveyard.

"And there's another thing as well. When I was at Dr. Finklestein's place before I passed out, I…well…I saw through Voldemort's eyes again. I don't know if he wanted me to see what happened or not. I think Bellatrix forced another death eater to tell him what happened. He knows I'm missing and that I still have the prophecy on me," he explained as he pulled the small orb out of his pocket.

Lily's expression grew grim as she took the prophecy from Harry's outstretched hand. "This is why he lured you to the department of mysteries. I suspect the goal of the whole mission was so he could obtain this. He's been after it for years. Voldemort never heard the entire prophecy, only part of it. Oh for Merlin's sake, everyone! It's just a name!" People had winced and hissed at the name with the exception of Jack. Lily shook her head before continuing. "Harry sweetheart, this is the reason why your father and I went into hiding. He was after you the moment you were born and still is."

"But why? What did I never do to him? What does he want with me?"

"It's all because of what this says," she said, gesturing to the prophecy. "Has Professor Dumbledore ever shown you what it says?"

"No, he hasn't. I didn't even know it existed up until a few days ago."

"Then it's time you knew. Albus should have shown this to you years ago." Lily walked over to the stage and set down the prophecy down in plain view of everyone. She drew out her wand and gently prodded the orb with the tip of her wand. The effect was instantaneous. A mist rose out of the prophecy, taking the form of Professor Trelawney. Her voice filled the room as the prophecy began.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…_

_Born to those who have thriced defied him,_

_Born as the seventh month dies…_

_And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…_

_And either must die at the hand of the other_

_For neither can live while the other survives…_

_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…"_

The room was silent for a few seconds before Lily spoke. "Your father and I defied Voldemort three times. At one point and I still don't know why, he asked James to join him. It was most likely because James was a pureblood. Naturally, he refused and I stood beside him. The other two times were in battle. In the last battle we were involved in, a roof caved in, killing some of his most faithful followers. It was a setback for him and of course that didn't set well with him. When Albus told us of the prophecy, we knew it meant us especially since you were born on the last day of July. Voldemort marked you as his equal the night he gave you that scar. As for this…power that's spoken of, I'm not sure what that means."

Harry took a deep breath as he said, "The prophecy said, 'Neither can live while the other survives.' It means one of us is going to end up killing the other…in the end."

"Yes. But I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's not going to be you. From what you've just told me, it sounds as if Voldemort can easily get his people inside of Hogwarts without a problem."

What his mum said was true. Barty Crouch Jr. had taken Polyjuice Potion to pose as Mad-Eye Moody. He went undetected for the entire year until the night of Voldemort's return. "I agree, mum."

"Exactly. As for my sister, I'll make sure you never have to back to there again. Also, I don't think it's wise for you to return to Hogwarts this year."

"What?" Harry gasped.

"Dear, it's not safe. You were almost killed last year and this year. Albus means well but I swear at some times that man is dumber than a bag of hammers. I trust him but I would rather you stay here in Halloween Town. If your previous years at Hogwarts are any indication, something is bound to happen this year. I'll find some way of contacting him. I can teach you what I know, and I'm sure Aggie and Violet won't mind helping," Lily said, looking off to the right.

"Well of course we wouldn't mind, Lily," a cackling voice said.

Off to the right, two witches had come forward out of the crowd. One was tall with silver hair; the other was short with jet black hair. "We would be thrilled to teach you, Harry," the tall witch said. "It's been a long time since we've been able to teach another young wizard. My name is Aggie and this is my friend, Violet."

The mayor, his face back to the happy side, came waddling closer with a Cheshire cat grin on his face. "Wonderful news! But may I ask where Harry is going to stay while he's here with us?"

"Harry can stay with me and Sally, Lily," Jack chimed in. "We have a spare room at the manor." A very beautiful woman came forward to stand beside Jack. Her dress looked like it had been sewn together from many different fabrics. Stiches showed at different parts of her body and she had long red hair like his mother.

"It'll be nice to have someone else in our home." Sally spoke in a light voice that reminded Harry of Luna Lovegood. "Of course, I'll have to take measurements on you. You'll need more clothes and you can't wear the same thing every day."

Jack smiled warmly at her before saying to Harry, "I hope you don't mind ghost dogs, Harry. Zero can be quite-"

"No."

"I'm sorry?"

"No, Jack," Harry repeated. "Listen, I really appreciate this. I do, but are all of you sure you want to do this? Trouble follows me wherever I go. I don't want anything terrible to happen." He thought of Cedric as he spoke. Cedric had been killed simply because he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We can manage. Believe me when I say, we've had our fair share of problems, most of them caused by Oogie Boogie. I'll explain that story later, Harry. In fact it's getting rather late," Jack added. "We've been here nearly three hours."

One look out the window and Harry saw Jack was right. It was nearly nightfall outside. "That about wraps things up, everyone," Jack said, turning to the crowd. The various ghouls began to file out of the hall except for the three figures Harry had spotted earlier, who were still hiding behind the benches. Jack's expression hardened as he spotted the three pairs of feet scurrying toward the door but Harry paid no attention. One thing was on Harry's mind as the hall slowly emptied. "Mum?"

"What is it, Harry?"

"Is…is dad here too?" he asked hesitantly.

The smile Lily had on her face faded. "No. I'm sorry but he's not here. I don't think he's in any of the other holiday worlds either. I would have known about it by now. I'm so sorry."

Harry nodded, then he noticed Jack's expression. That was when three voices could be heard from behind the last row of benches.

"You're so slow! Move your butt, Shock!"

"Ouch! You stepped on my tail!"

"Be quiet you two, or Jack will-"

"Lock, Shock, Barrel! Why don't kids stick around for a few more minutes?" Jack called out.

Three kids, a devil, a witch and a boy in a skeleton costume, came bounding up the center aisle. All three of them were in masks. As they stopped in front of Jack, each took their mask off and announced their name.

"Lock!" "Shock!" "Barrel!"

"Hi, Jack!" Shock said in a high pitched voice. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you three that there will be no pranks on Harry. And I mean it! That means no scaring him as well!"

"Whatever you say Jack," Lock said.

"Yeah, we were only going to throw slims filled balloons at him," Barrel laughed.

"You numb skull, Barrel! You don't say that!" Shock screeched as she proceeded to smack Barrel with her mask. Barrel collided with Lock who stepped on his own tail. Lock pounced on Shock and within seconds the trio was writhing on the floor. Jack shook his head before letting out an unearthly shriek to get their attention. The noise not only stopped the fighting but made Harry jump about a foot in the air.

"I mean it! This is not a joke," Jack hissed. "There will be no pranks, no scaring. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear!" Barrel said.

"Of course, Jack," Shock added.

"We wouldn't dream of it, Jack," Lock finished. Little did Jack know the trio had their hands behind their backs with their fingers crossed. The tricksters started laughing in a way that made Harry suspect they meant otherwise. They turned and walked out of the town hall, still laughing when they reached the front gate.

"Darn it!" Shock yelled. "I really wanted to prank him!"

"There's still something else we can do."

"Oh yeah? And what's that, Lock?" Barrel asked.

"Bring back Oogie Boogie of course. Ever since Jack took the town back we haven't been able to prank people like we used to. Once we do bring Oogie back, you know he'll still want to take over the town. I say we contact this Lord Moldybutt once Oogie is back. That way, Oogie can take over the town faster. Jack said we can't prank Harry. He never said a thing about Oogie Boogie, did he?"

"No, he didn't," Shock and Barrel said in unison.

The three trick-or-treaters romped off to their tree house, laughing hysterically, to set off to work on bringing back the boogie man.

xxxxx

**Author's note:** *Reposted


	7. Letters, Pranks, and Stories

**NOTE!** There are quite a bit of new parts in this chapter so I guess you could consider this the new chapter. Also, I do have Oogie's Revenge and have played through it a few times before so past events from the game will show up in here on occasion. Be on the lookout for the Soul Robber in this chapter.

xxxxx

**Double Trouble**

**Letters, Pranks and Stories**

Something cold and misty was covering his face, waking him up. Harry opened his eyes to be greeted by a floating, wriggling Zero. Once Zero saw that Harry was awake, he did a little flip, licked Harry's face one more time and then floated through the closed door.

Sighing, he rolled over onto his back and glance over at the clock. It was a few minutes shy of 8:30, which was when Jack had asked him to set the alarm. The spare bedroom Jack had shown him last night used to be a storage room until Jack had turned it into a guest room shortly after he and Sally had gotten married.

A shrill cat yowl sounded off in the room. Harry snorted with laughter as he realized the sound came from the alarm clock. How fitting for Halloween Town, a yowling cat for an alarm. He silenced it and flopped back down onto the bed, still dressed in the same clothes. Sally would most likely be taking measurements on him today. She had wanted to do so last night, but the story of Oogie Boogie had taken up too much time. Oogie Boogie, to Harry, seemed almost as power hungry as Voldemort. Lock, Shock and Barrel had been his henchmen until Jack had taken Oogie down not only once, but two times. It was no wonder why Jack had been harsh with them last night. Harry really couldn't blame the Pumpkin King. The trio had been the reason the holidays had almost been taken over and Santa Clause, or Sandy Claws as the town called him, had almost become an entrée.

Harry was wondering just how his mother was going to contact Dumbledore when a loud commotion came from downstairs. The sound of shattering glass sent Harry hurtling down the stairs, wand at the ready. He burst through the kitchen door to see a scene of utter bedlam. A few broken glass jars littered the floor. Pots and pans had been knocked off the rack hanging near the pantry. Sally had a broom in hand while Jack had a green, slimy thing twirling around his right hand. Up on the cobweb covered chandelier perched a snowy owl.

"Stop!" Harry screamed. Jack and Sally froze to turn and look at him. "Stop! That's Hedwig!"

"Who?"

"Jack, that's my owl, Hedwig. And…and she has a letter!" he gasped once he saw letter tied to Hedwig's leg.

"Do you mean to say that someone from Hogwarts is trying to contact you?" Jack questioned.

"It must be! Who else would it be? Here Hedwig," he called, holding out his arm. Hedwig shot her familiar a look that plainly read _Are you insane?_ "Hedwig, it's all right," he reassured her. "Jack and Sally won't hurt you. They're friends."

Hedwig shot her former assailants one last murderous look before she soared over to Harry's outstretched arm and stuck out her leg. Harry took the letter from her, his heart skipping a beat when he recognized the handwriting. "Hermione," he breathed out.

"Your friend?" Sally asked but Harry ignored her as he ripped open the letter.

_Harry,_

_I'm praying this finds you. I don't know where you are, but I very much hope you are all right. We've sent Stryker out (you remember him?) in hopes of contacting Sirius as well. The Order has been in a total state of uproar since you went missing. Everyone, even Snape, is madly searching for you._

_Harry, I don't know if you've noticed by now (And I hope you haven't), but Voldemort is searching for you. He's sent out groups of death eaters to find you. Please, PLEASE send Hedwig back as soon as this reaches you. We need to know if you're safe and where you are. If you're with someone, tell us who it is if that's at all possible._

_Love_

_Hermione_

Harry looked up at Hedwig who looked thoroughly pleased with herself and then looked at Jack and Sally. "What did it say? Who is it from?" Jack pried.

"It's from Hermione Granger. She's one of my best friends," Harry replied as he handed Jack the letter. Once the couple had read it, Harry asked, "Well what should I say? I mean, could I tell them where I am? About mum? What if Voldemort finds out?"

"I believe so. It would be hard to explain where you are without telling them about the town. I don't see why it wouldn't hurt. As for Voldemort, he won't find out." Harry gave Jack a look of disbelief. "And even if he were to, Halloween Town is unplottable. It can't be found on any map. The only way someone could find their way here is if someone in town brought them here or opened up a passageway for them. If need be, I could open up a passage in the town hall so they could get here, maybe in the old fireplace. Anyway, you may want to start on a reply. Your owl is beginning to look impatient."

Jack had barely finished speaking when Hedwig nipped Harry's ear, then clicked her beak as if to say _I'm waiting._ "All right, Hedwig! Just give me a minute. Jack, do you have some parchment and a quill I can borrow?"

Jack nodded and strode out of the kitchen, returning a minute later with rolls of parchment and a pair of black quills. As quick as he could, Harry wrote down everything that had happened since the battle, explaining it to the best of his ability. Harry was just finishing the letter when Jack handed him his own.

"Could you include this as well, Harry? It explains the town, your mother being here and how to get here by…oh what is it called? Lily and the others have talked about it before. You step into a fireplace and call out your destination. Oh, why can't I remember it now?!"

"It's called floo powder, Jack," Harry chortled, watching Hedwig fly out the window. "So what's the plan for today?"

"You never got to see much of the town so I thought you might like a tour. Afterwards, we could have lunch at the Witches Shop," Jack said, smiling as he saw Harry's eyes light up. "I take that as a yes?"

"You bet!" No talk about the prophecy, no talk about Voldemort. This was going to be fun!

xxxxx

So far from what Jack could see, Harry was thoroughly enjoying himself. They had been to nearly every part of town and Harry had met all the residents with the exception of the mayor. All the denizens of Halloween Town were very welcoming towards Harry. Sally had stayed behind at Skellington Manor due to the fact she had taken measurements on Harry and would be busy sewing for the majority of the afternoon. Jack and Harry were passing by the fountain on the way to the Witches Shop when the mayor finally intercepted them. Jack groaned. He really didn't want to deal with the mayor at the moment. There had been a few close calls in having a mayor encounter. Jack had given the little two-faced politician the slip a few times, but somehow he always managed to catch up to him. And sure enough, here he came, waddling towards them with new Halloween plans in his hands.

"Jack! I've got some new ideas for this year's Halloween!"

"That's great, Mayor. I'll look at them later."

The mayor's face spun around. "But Jack, this is important."

"I understand that but can't this wait for a few hours? I'm showing Harry around."

"Jack, I'm only an elected official here! We can't go forward with these plans until you approve of them. Can't you just listen to them for a minute?"

Jack sighed. The mayor wasn't going to leave them be until he listened. "Fine," Jack said, leaning up against the fountain. He heard Harry choke back laughter as the mayor's face spun around again.

"Well first I thought your entrance could be you bursting out of a casket being pulled by a horse drawn hearse. Then maybe-"

But Jack wasn't listening. The longer the mayor talked, the more Jack began to fantasize about using his cone shaped head for a football. The image was just too priceless. _Wait, what in the world am I doing? I have a reputation to uphold, especially now since Harry's here._ But he couldn't help but laugh at the image of a mayor football being punted across a field by the vampire brothers. Jack broke into a small fit of laughter.

"Jack, are you even listening to me?"

"No."

The mayor let out of huff, then proceeded to force the papers into Jack's skeletal hands. "Here, look at them later."

Jack watched the mayor hurriedly waddle away. "I apologize for that, Harry. The mayor's always a bit over enthusiastic about new plans. Normally he's- Gaaahhhh!"

An enormous water balloon hit Jack square in the skull, sending him over the wall of the fountain and into the green water. Jack resurfaced a moment later, growling inaudibly under his breath.

"Jack, are you okay?" Harry asked, helping Jack climb out of the fountain.

Not to worry. I'm fine." Jack's eye sockets narrowed at the retreating figures of Lock, Shock and Barrel. The trio was in a state of giggle fits. "I'm going to have to speak with them later." Jack looked at the former blueprints. He opened his hands and the papers fell to the ground with a wet splat. "Come on, let's go get some lunch," Jack said, ignoring the mayor's cries of, "Jack, now I have to write out those plans again!"

xxxxx

Halloween Town's pranksters rounded the corner of an alley way, startling one of the town's many stray black cats. The three were still roaring with laughter at their successful prank on the Pumpkin King. Jack had told them they were not allowed to prank Harry, but never had he said not to prank him. And it had worked! The ol' Pumpkin King was now as wet as a dog. Lock's face mischievously lit up, an idea for a second prank already forming in his mind.

"Oooh, I know that look!" Shock cooed. "You've got something in mind?"

"I've got an idea for another prank. Let's get moving!"

xxxxx

Harry and Jack approached the Witches Shop, which was collectively owned by Lily, Aggie and Violet. Not only was it a general store of sorts but the shop was connected to one of the two restaurants in town, the other being a small pub which was owned by Mr. Hyde. Jack pulled on the door handle and nearly dislocated his wrist bones. He gave a few more good tugs, but the door refused to budge even an inch. Jack firmly dug his feet into the ground, pulling on the door as hard as physically possible. Still, the door wouldn't open.

"Blast it! Why won't this wretched door open?" Jack gave one last heave, finally wrenching the door open. The force of the pull caused Jack to fall backwards onto Harry. As both wizard and Pumpkin King hit the ground, a large bucket resting against a ledge above the doorway tipped over, spilling a brown, sticky liquid onto the two below.

_Gross!_ Harry thought. _What is this stuff It smells like…maple syrup?_ Harry gave the sticky substance on his finger a tentative taste. _Yeah, definitely maple syrup._ Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bucket fall off the ledge and land on Jack's skull with a loud, resounding clang. The mad laughing he had heard from the prank at the fountain came from the roof of the shop.

"LOCK, SHOCK, BARREL!" Jack roared from beneath the bucket. "You wait until I get my hands on you three!" The laughing faded as the trio ran off.

"Jack? Harry?" a voice came from the doorway. Harry looked up to see his mother before them. "Are you both all right?"

"Other than me being wet and both of us covered in maple syrup, then yes." Jack took the bucket and flung it over a fence, causing a cat to screech. Lily smiled, waved her wand and the syrup was gone, leaving them dry. "Come inside. Did you come here for lunch?"

"Yes," Jack replied as they walked inside the shop. "I just finished showing Harry around town."

"And how do you like it here so far, sweetheart?"

"It's great! Everyone here is so welcoming. I thought Corpse Kid was going to faint when I met him."

Lily smiled warmly at her son. "I'm glad to hear things are going well for you. You both help yourselves to the pork chops in the back. I have to run home for a while. I'll be back soon," she said as she turned to walk out the front door. Jack disappeared behind the store counter at the mention of the word 'pork chops.'

"Wait, mum? Where are Aggie and Violet?"

"Oh they're out collecting a few potion ingredients for the shop. They should be back soon. You enjoy your lunch, Harry." Lily left, leaving Harry alone for a few moments.

Jack returned, balancing two plates on one arm and holding two bottles of what looked like Pumpkin Juice in the other. "So do you have any questions, Harry?"

"Yes, but…"

"What is it?"

"One of them might be too personal and the other is about…Sirius," Harry said, his voice lowering as he spoke his godfather's name.

"I'll answer the question about Sirius first and then the personal one. What's on your mind?"

Harry was a little apprehensive about the answer he would receive. "Do…do you think Sirius is another holiday world or is he…"

Jack sighed. He had a feeling Harry was going to ask him this eventually. "I'll be honest with you. I'm not sure where he might be. There's a chance he could be at one of the worlds and there's a chance he…isn't. You said before that you fell through some kind of veil?" Harry just nodded in response. "I'm not entirely certain how it works but your mother has spoken of it a few times before. I believe she said people have been found hundreds of miles away and they are perfectly fine. Or they…"

"Die," Harry finished grimly for him.

"Yes," Jack said softly. "I'm sorry, Harry. I wish I could give you more concrete answers. I promise you, I'll contact the other holiday leaders as soon as I can and ask them if they've seen any sign of Sirius."

Harry didn't want to accept the possibility that Sirius might not have been as lucky as he had been. Another death would probably be too much for him to handle at the current time, especially with it being a little less than a year after Cedric's death. He just stared dismally at the pork chop bones on his plate, which Jack took notice of. Concern filled the Pumpkin King as he saw how much his answer had affected Harry. Not even a week had passed by yet he was already beginning to feel fond of and a tad protective of Harry. He had been through so much, more than even some adults could handle, and the boy reminded him so much of Lily. For Harry's sake, he truly hoped Sirius was alive.

"You wanted to ask me another question?"

"Yes. Like I said it might be too personal. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to but…" Harry paused, unsure how to approach what he wanted to ask. Jack gestured for him to continue. Harry stole a deep breath before saying, "You said a person has to die to get into a holiday world. How…how did you die?"

Jack did the opposite of what Harry thought he would do. He smiled. "Well, it's a fairly exciting story. It doesn't end all that pleasant. I died a fairly violent death. You see, I was murdered. It all happened on Halloween night, 1796. I was due to be married the following summer to a very fine woman by the name of Victoria Collins. We originally resided in Boston, Massachusetts and arrived in England on a pleasure trip. The inn we were going to stay at was in Bristol, but we would never reach it."

"We were traveling on horseback, Victoria on the saddle behind me. Our horse was becoming quite skittish, tossing his head and snorting every few minutes. Finally something spooked him. He reared up, knocking both of us to the ground and took off down the road, leaving us stranded. I pulled Victoria close, not wanting anything to happen to her. My only weapon was a pocket pistol and it was still on the saddle. We started walking and had gone half a mile when a group of men came out into the middle of the road some eighty feet away. They began yelling and cursing at us, calling us 'muggle scum.' Back then I didn't know what that term meant until the witches arrived in town. One of them raised his arm, pointing a small stick straight at us. At the time, I believed it to be some kind of gun so I grabbed Victoria's hand and ran. The men were chasing us. I heard a cry of 'Crucio' and a jet of light soared over our heads. Victoria and I came to a bridge and hid in the ditch underneath it. The men ran right over us. A few minutes passed by, and there was no sign of any of the. I told Victoria to stay hidden while I checked to see if the coast was clear and not to come out no matter what she heard."

"Everything seemed calm at first. The men suddenly materialized out of thin air, completely surrounding me. I heard a second call of 'Crucio' and felt this horrible pain. In all my years I've never felt anything like it. I don't know how long the torture went on for. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain left me but it was nothing compared to what I was about to feel. The man who I assumed to be the ring leader said an incantation. Ropes spun themselves around me, binding me so tight I could scarcely move. I was dragged to a nearby barn where I was thrown on the hay covered floor. Wine bottles were produced from beneath their cloaks. They emptied the contents of the bottles onto me as well as the ground and barn around me. Soon I was soaked in wine. The leader gave me a wicked smile and said 'You're getting what's coming to you, you filthy muggle.' He then pointed his 'stick' at the floor and shouted a spell. The floor was immediately set ablaze and I watched in terror as the flames hungrily ate up the trail of wine leading to me. The flames quickly reached every part of the barn. Within seconds the barn and myself were on fire. The pain was excruciating, far worse than what I had experienced earlier. I could feel the flames licking at my body, the very flesh being burned away. I tried to douse the fire by rolling around but in vain. The ropes were too tight. Soon I was paralyzed from the unbearable pain and lost consciousness. After I died, I woke up in the graveyard in very much the same manner as you did. To this day, I still don't know what became of Victoria. My only hope is that she escaped."

Harry was silent for a while, taking in what Jack had told him. "So a mob of wizards killed you?"

"Yes. There were 'muggle hunting' and I was their prey. I'm a skeleton now because of the nature of my death. The heat of the fire was so intense it reduced me to nothing but a skeleton, hence why I look like this," Jack said, gesturing to himself.

Harry sat back, looking at his now empty plate. Jack had certainly been right when he said his death had been violent. Wanting to change the subject, Harry asked, "How did you become the Pumpkin King?"

"Ah, that is a story for another time," Jack said, chuckling at Harry's crestfallen expression. "We've been away for a while and I expect Sally should be about finished with some of your clothes by now. How about we go back to the manor and see?"

"That would be great." They got up from the table and headed out the door. "I'm starting to get a little tired of being in these same clothes."

"I would imagine so. You haven't been able to bathe either. When we get back, I'll show you the bathroom." Jack glanced around for the mayor as they crossed the town square. Luckily he was nowhere in sight. Probably re-writing those Halloween plans that had been ruined from the water. Jack pushed open the door to the manor. "Sally! We're back."

Sally's voice came faintly from upstairs. "Up here, Jack."

Jack grinned and waved his hand for Harry to follow him. _Does he always have a smile on his face?_ Harry thought, silently chuckling to himself as they climbed the staircase. He followed Jack down the hall into a sewing room. Sally was still were she had been when they had left this morning, still diligently working.

"Did everything go well today?" Sally said, looking up from her work.

"It did! Definitely one of the better days I've had in a while, Sally," Harry answered.

"Good. I have some clothes ready for you, Harry. They're in your room on the bed." Somehow Sally was sewing without really looking at what she was doing. "There's also a surprise waiting for you too."

"Thanks, Sally." Harry nodded and turned to Jack. "You said I could use the loo when we came back?"

Jack had a confused look on his face for a split second before he understood. "Oh the bathroom? Yes of course. There's one right across the hall from your room. Follow me, Harry." They went down the hall and Jack opened the door across from Harry's room. "Right here. Sally and I have one attached to our room so you have this one all to yourself. Take as much time as you need." Jack turned to walk back to Sally's sewing room, but not before reaching over to ruffle Harry's hair.

"Hey!" Harry laughed as Jack dodged out of his reach and took off down the hall. He shook his head, shut the door and took a look around the bathroom. It had the essentials of any bathroom and, like the rest of the house, was done in a Halloween style. He quickly got everything he would need from the cabinets, shed the grimy clothes and started messing with the shower taps. It took a few minutes to figure out how to switch it from the tub faucet to the shower head. Fifteen minutes later, Harry had finished up and went back to his room.

Laid out of the bed were two pairs of pants and shirts, a set of wizard robes, a black cloak, a belt and a small package wrapped in brown tissue paper. A pair of boots was set on the floor next to the bed. The pants were black and dark brown. The two shirts were emerald green and a handsome maroon. Harry couldn't believe Sally had made all this in less than one day, especially the boots. Upon inspection Harry found silver buckles on the sides of the boots. Curiosity brought him to the package. Harry tore open the soft tissue paper to find a leather wand holster. _Wow, Sally!_ The only people who Harry saw with these were his professors and members of the Order, not to mention the death eaters. His was made of brown leather and had straps on it that looked like they would strap onto his belt. Harry snatched the brown pants, green shirt, belt, and boots and threw them on. Lastly he attached the holster to the belt and slipped his wand inside. _Wait until Ron and Hermione see this! They'll love it._

From downstairs he heard Jack call. "Hey Harry what do you want for supper?" Harry left his room and headed down the stairs, happier than he had been in weeks.

xxxxx

_Grimmauld Place, early in the morning the following day_

Hermione was seething. It was barely eight in the morning and Dumbledore had already called yet another Order meeting. Six days had gone by now and there was still no sign of Harry. Everyone in the Order was clearly becoming restless that not a scrap of information had turned up. Mrs. Weasley had nearly lost it with Dumbledore yesterday when he had arrived at Grimmauld Place with no news on Harry. The only news he had was that a few people had gone missing under suspicious circumstances. _It's probably Voldemort_, Hermione thought, sitting from her spot on the bed. _He's probably making moves already now that Harry's not here. _

A tapping sound came from across the room. Hermione looked up and did a double take at what she saw in the window. Hedwig was perched on the window sill! Not wasting a second, Hermione ran to the window and threw it open. The snowy owl soared over to the desk, landing facing Hermione and stuck out her leg. She took the two letters from Hedwig and gasped when she recognized the handwriting on the first letter as Harry's. The other had loopy handwriting from someone she didn't know.

Quickly she read through Harry's letter, her jaw dropping as she read through it and the second letter. _The Order needs to know about this! We've found Harry!_ Hermione took off down the stairs, shouting as she went. "Harry! We've found Harry!"

xxxxx

**Author's note:** *Reposted. There a fair amount of new parts in this chapter. I'll have the brand new chapter up before Christmas. Promise! I've made up a timeline of sorts for the first part of this story. All I need to do is flesh out the portions in-between major events. And yes I did say first part. I'm planning on making a sequel and sticking through with this story until it's finished.


	8. Update!

I'M BACK! I'm so, so sorry I basically abandoned the story. To be honest, I forgot I wrote it until a few days ago. Good news is I am continuing Double Trouble and I have a co-writer as well! Also I'm going back through the chapters and tweaking them where they need it so when the new chapter does go up I will probably have added some new things to the other chapters. Right now I'm busy writing a paper on a book for US history. Once I'm done with that, it's about three weeks until college finals so the new chapter probably won't be up until after the second week of December. Once the chapter is up, this update is probably going to be taken down.


	9. Second Update, Re-editing Finished

**NEW UPDATE! **I've finished editing all the chapters. The one I changed the most was the last chapter: Letters, Pranks and Stories. So I guess you could consider that the new chapter. Yay! As I said in the last chapter, I'm aiming to have the brand new chapter up before Christmas. I've made up a timeline of sorts for the first part of this story. All I need to do is flesh out the portions in-between major events and then I can really start writing. And yes I did say first part. I'm planning on making a sequel and sticking through with this story until it's finished. Half-Blood Prince events will play in at some point as will Deathly Hallows. The horcruxes will be in here and they won't change. I'll try to keep everyone in character as much as I can.

I have to give a lot of thanks to my beta reader, Graciela17! Thank you for inspiring me to breathe some life back into this story!


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